Unpopular opinion: Old DVD players make better CD transports than modern Blu-ray drives

I was at a buddy's place last weekend fixing his stereo setup and he pulled out a 2003 Sony DVD player to play CDs through his DAC. I laughed at first, told him to just use his PS5. Then he made me listen to the same Fleetwood Mac track on both and I couldn't believe it. The old player sounded warmer and less harsh, no digital glare. He showed me a forum post from 2008 that tested jitter measurements on different drives and the old Toshiba models actually had lower numbers than some 2020 gear. Now I'm hunting estate sales for a used 20 dollar DVD player to replace my 300 dollar transport. Anyone else had this experience with optical drives?

2 comments

2 Comments

felix_thomas731mo ago

Calling placebo effect on that one. Digital is digital.

sanchez.mia1mo ago

That 2008 forum post is actually legit, I remember reading that same one a few years back when I was looking into this whole digital transport rabbit hole. Some old Toshiba DVD players from the early 2000s apparently had really tight servo mechanisms that kept the disc spinning more stable than a lot of modern cheap Blu-ray drives. My buddy who builds tube amps explained it to me like this - the power supply in those old players was way more overbuilt than what you get in a generic internal Blu-ray drive today, and that can affect the clock signal timing. I tested it myself with a 2005 Pioneer DVD player I found at a thrift store for 8 bucks, hooked it up to my DAC, and yeah, the soundstage was wider and less fatiguing compared to my PC's optical out. It's not night and day but the difference is real enough that I stopped using my PC for critical listening.